Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1887-03-24
HE STARTED WHILE ASLEEP
Curious Mishap at Scranton Recalling a
Terrible Railroad Catastrophe.


Curious Mishap at Scranton Recalling a
Terrible Railroad Catastrophe.
Late one Saturday night Dennis Mack
engineer on a switch engine in the yards
of the Lackawanna Iron and coal com
panv in this city, ran his engine into the
engine house, says a Scranton correspond
enS of the New York Sun. AS he was to
go on duty again at one O'Clock Sunday
morning, he lay down in the cab of his
engine to sleep until that time. Just be
fore one O'Clock wOrkmen in the yard
were startled by crash in the engine
house, which is a frame building. Look
ing in the direction of the house they
saw one side of it give way and Mack's
engine came tearing out of the breach,
I he engine ran short distance over the
ground and then toppled over down an
enbankment twenty feet high. II rolled
over and over in the descent and was
badly wrecked. The workmep knew
that Mack was on the engine and ex-
pected TO find him crushed to death in
the 5ebris. They found him fast in the
wreck, and although he was held so that
1t took them some time to extricate him
he was found to have received but few
slight injuries. Mack could not explain
what caused the engine to start, but it is
Supposed that he started up in his sleep
and pulled the throttle open.
This singular occurrence recalls the
fact that one of the most terrible rail
road accidents that ever occurred In this
country was caused by an engineer start
ing his engine while he was asleep. II
was in July 1869, on the Erie railroad at
Mast Hope station, on the Delaware div
ision. The track was then a single one
on that part OF the road. Conductor
Jud Brown had orders TO lie on the switch
at Mast Hope until fast express train No.
3, west bound, passed. James Griffin was
the engineer OF the freight train. As the
express train approached the station at
midnight; running thirty-ive miles an
hsul, Conductor Brown was Mortified to
see his train pulling out on the main
track. Grii1in's engine reached the
main track directly in front of the ex-
press, and terrific collision was the re.
suit. The cars of the express train were
piled on top of one another and caught
fire. Many passengers were killed out
right. A dozen others were held in the
wreck and burned alive. The depot
caught fire ami was destroyed. Griffin
discovered the situation in time TO jump
from his engine. He fed, but afterward
surrendered himself and was locked in
the Pike county jail He was tried for
manslaughter in September, 1869. lie
was defended by the late Chief Justice
George w. Woodward. 1t was proved on
the trial that he had been on duty TWEEN
ty-four hours without sleep, and the
defense was that while waiting on the
switch he was overcome by the strain and
fell asleep. He was partially awakened
by the approaching train, and pulled
open the throttle of his engine
before he knew what he was doing.
A sympathetic jury acquitted him.
against the charge of Judge Barrett to
convict, and was publicly censured by the
court. The disaster made the name of
Mast Hope so notorious all over the cCln-
try that the railroad company changed
the name of the station to Pine Grove,
which 1t retained until few weeks ago,
when it was changed back to Mast Hope.
The remains of several of the victims of
the catastrophe were never Unidentified.
The disaster cost the company 100000.